The present invention relates to a packaging assembly for securely supporting a number of television picture tubes in stacks, such that each panel is separated from an axially spaced panel to prevent damage by abrasion or impact and wherein the columns may be bundled on a pallet assembly for shipment.
An exploded view of a prior art TV panel packaging assembly or package 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. Pallet 12 supports the package 10 including a lower corrugated bottom portion 14, upstanding corrugated fiberboard sidewalls 16, triangular wood posts 18, a lid portion 20 and a wooden top 22. The package 10 is strapped together using various arrangements of strapping material 24. A plurality of panels 26 are arranged in stacks 27 and each panel 26 is separated from an adjacent one by a corrugated bottom spacer 28 and an upper paper separator 30. The lower separator or spacer 28 cushions each panel 26. The lowermost panel 26 in any one stack 27, carries the weight of the entire stack 27.
While this arrangement has proved to be an effective means for transporting television panels of various sizes to the tube manufacturers, it has some disadvantages. The package 10 must be manually disassembled at the tube manufacturer's loading area and all the components except for perhaps separator 30 are returned to the manufacturer of the panels at considerable cost and effort.
Another disadvantage of the described prior arrangement is that, while it is intended that the material be used many times before it must be discarded, invariably portions of the package 10 are lost or destroyed during reshipment. Further, corrugated fiberboard has the characteristic that it is effected by variations in temperature and humidity and it deteriorates to the point that even if it is returned it is sometimes unuseable.
Also, since the prior art package 10 of FIG. 1 includes a great number of component parts, the handling of the packaging material is extremely labor and inventory intensive and is not particularly suited for automation.
There are many systems in the prior art which are utilized for carrying elongated objects and packages. For example Andrus, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,256,995 shows a box having corner support members slotted for receiving oblong dish-like members. The package is not adapted for carrying heavy objects such as television panels in a vertical stack. It is essentially a conventional corrugated board support with corner inserts. Hilger in U.S. Pat. No. 3,337,468 discloses a similar arrangement for the handling of breakable sheets such as plate glass. The spacers provided are formed of corrugated members which are punched and folded to secure the glass sheets on edge within the package so that they do not deform during shipping. The packaging is, for the most part, disposable and is not adapted for the shipping arrangement herein, since there is no provision to join various packages together in a secure unit.
Combs et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,044,656 shows a prefabricated shipping container having components which are molded or extruded to form corners and struts of the package. This system requires a number of various types of components but does not provide for the spacing or support of the individual items within the package. It is complex to assemble and would be extremely expensive to implement. The Weiss U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,234, illustrates the concept of utilizing end supports for fragile tubes, however, each row of tubes requires a support rack therebetween adding to the number of components for the system. Peasley, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,302,782 and 3,334,798 shows interlocking packaging components which require assembly. Although they are adapted for protecting corners of objects, they would be difficult to implement in an automated system, or one wherein it was desired to reduce the amount of hand labor involved in producing a package. The U.S. Pats. to Swanson et al. No. 2,995,291, Maio No. 3,232,513, Graves No. 3,330,407, Lancaster et al. No. 3,867,806 and Balmer No. 3,148,773 show various packaging systems of general interest.
The present invention is adapted to reduce the number of elements necessary to produce a sturdy and reliable package for transporting fragile and heavy objects such as television tube panels and other such objects. It is important that the components used have a long service life, are sufficiently strong to provide the supporting function and are easily adapted for automation.